Wetlands revered?

January 30, 2013

The longer one lives, the more one sees the increasing weight of our government on our lives. Being in my nineties, I've had a long time to observe this process. It's as if the government feels, in its position of power, that it knows best and whatever our views, we must accept theirs.

I'm a Yooper, having been born in Negaunee, and for the succeeding 40 plus years considered it home. Growing up in the 20s and 30s without the attractions of television, video games, cell phones, etc. one looked elsewhere for diversion.

I, for one, found spending my free time in the woods, or bush as we called it, the most attractive alternative. In those days we had swamps, lots of swamps. But these were areas in the bush to be avoided. Knee deep muck and mosquitoes were not all that appealing.

Which brings us back to government. Now we have no swamps. They have eliminated them. Instead we have wetlands. (Organ music please). These supremely lovely patches filled with flowers, exotic birds and what have you are literally areas of heaven on earth. You would no more make a trail over one of these patches as tread on your mother's grave.

I would give anything to take a group of the government people who write these rules for a day's walk in one of their revered wetlands on a warm day in June when the mosquitoes, black flies, deer flies, horse flies and wood ticks are their friendliest and see how long they would last.